Construction slows in Windsor in August
Windsor’s construction hot streak cooled off in August.
After reporting five consecutive months of permit values worth at least $40 million, the city issued a little less than $24 million worth of permits for the month.
The residential sector recorded one of the biggest slowdowns for the month, recording just $11.9 million worth of activity, compared with $28 million in July. The city issued 275 permits for housing construction last month.
Also losing ground was activity in the government and institutional sector. After recording more than $12 million worth of work in July, the sector managed just $6.3 million last month. The city also issued no permits for industrial work, down from $2.3 million for a single project in July.
Only the commercial sector came out ahead in August. Where the city issued $859,000 worth of commercial construction in July, it issued more than $5.6 million in August.
Compared with August 2020, activity was lower in the residential and industrial sectors, but significantly higher in the commercial and government/institutional sectors. The city issued slightly more than $19 million worth of permits that month.
The city issued two permits worth more than $1 million for work in the non-residential sector in August. The first, for $2 million, was for renovation work to the building at 400 City Hall Square East to accommodate the permanent relocation of the Provincial Offences Program. The second, ]worth $1.6 million, was issued for interior fit-up work for a new Assisted Living Southwestern Ontario office on 1110 University Avenue West.
For the year to date, permit values are over $273 million, with more than half of that activity concentrated in the residential sector. For the same period last year, permit values were just under $260 million. Slight pullbacks in the residential sector and industrial sector were more than compensated for this year by a more than doubling of the activity in the government and institutional sector year over year.